The present invention relates in general to support holders for racks which retain printed material, files, charts and the like. More specifically, the present invention related to such holders and racks which include a retention clip to pin the received material in position.
Over the years a number of holders and receptacles for printed material have been designed. While there is great diversity in the various configurations, these holders and receptacles typically include front and rear panels and enclosing side panels. The bottom surface is typically enclosed either by a separate panel or by angling the front and rear panel such that their lower edges are in contact. The interior cavity which is defined is open and the material which is received is retained without any particular orientation or arrangement. In some designs, a series of receptacles are provided in a stack such that different types of materials can be segregated.
Typical of some of the aforementioned types of holders and receptacles are the magnetic wall pockets, utility wall pockets and desk top pockets offered by Deflecto Corporation of Indianapolis, Ind. Some of these products are covered by U.S. Pat. No. Des. 286,600 issued Nov. 11, 1986 to Meyer et al. and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 289,122 issued Apr. 11, 1987 to Meyer et al.
In each of these patented configurations the holder or receptacle (i.e, pockets) includes sides which control the dimension of the article which can be received. Although the length dimension of the article is typically turned sideways so that the extension above the pocket is minimized, there is complete freedom as to the orientation of the article. Nevertheless, having enclosing side walls does limit the versatility of the pocket due to size restrictions. Consequently, for articles whose size may vary or when the type of article to be retained in the holder is not known, pockets with these confining sides may not be suitable.
One area where such pockets have more limited use due to the nature of the articles and material to be received is in the operating and examination rooms of hospitals and clinics. In these rooms medical files and charts are typically present and there is a need to temporarily retain or store such files and charts during examination of the patient. These medical charts and files are often placed on a counter or table or are left outside of the room. If there is a need to refer to the file or enter data, then not having it in a convenient and readily accessible location contributes to confusion and a lack of organization. Another area of potential use for the present invention is in computer rooms where large printouts are moved and handled.
With the holder of the present invention, a front clip is provided to aid in retaining the articles which are placed in the holder. This clip is molded integrally as part of the holder and has a sufficient spring tension to enable various thicknesses of material to be retained. The spring tension of the clip also creates a slight flex or bend in the received articles such that the outer edges are pushed forward and made easier to grasp. The front clip structure of the present invention is extended to another style of holder or receptacle which includes side panels that extend forward from a rear panel.
This other style according to the present invention is specifically designed to receive a large quantity of identical brochures or folders and the holder width is sized to match the width of the printed material which is received in the holder. Consider for example product and informational brochures which are distributed by businesses such as travel agencies, doctor offices, hotels, drug stores, etc. There is a need to display such informational material in an attractive manner and still maintain visibility of what is available. For instance, a drug store may wish to provide a number of health care brochures on a wide range of topics. If the cover of the brochures cannot be seen it is awkward for a person to easily select the brochure of interest. In one embodiment of the present invention two clips are arranged as part of the same holder so that two items of printed material can be received and positioned concurrently.
While a number of holders exist for magazines, catalogs, pamphlets and brochures, they all suffer from various defects in design which severely limit their aesthetic qualities and usefulness. One defect is that these holders do not provide any type of structure to cause the material to stand and remain standing in an upright orientation. If the holder is full, the material in the holder is somewhat supported by its own surrounding mass. However, as the pamphlets and brochures are taken the mass diminishes and the remaining pamphlets and brochures begin to sag and curl. Either the top edge of this material droops over in a forward direction making it difficult to read and identify, or the bottom edge curls up and the top edge drops down becoming more difficult to locate, identify and grasp.
By means of the clip of the present invention, a slight arch is created in the printed material creating a concave curvature extending from the top to the bottom with the curvature running side to side. This arch provides each item with a structural configuration which is self-supporting and this precludes the aforementioned problems of sagging and curling. The side panels of this particular holder style according to the present invention are configured with interlocking means so that several holders can be joined together as an assembled unit.